Abstract [en]

This thesis concerns students’ engagement with school. In Sweden there are as many as 17,5 % of the students, who after year nine do not get the grades in order to be admitted to the national program at the upper secondary school. In this thesis, Students’ experiences are focused in order to understand engagement with school. The study is grounded in a socio cultural perspective on learning where learning is considered to originate from social actions, as well as theoretical perspectives on engagement. In the thesis learning is seen as development not as a process within the child but rather as development that takes place when the child participates in practices within their cultural community and in relations with others. Learning is looked upon as a perspective where the context of our lived experience of participation in the world is important. Learning should be seen as social participation. This kind of participation does not only shape what we do but also who we are and who we can become. In this thesis the concept of engagement is considered as both the wanting to do something, and what the student actual do, the agency of the student. An exploratory sequential mixed method has been used in the data collection, mainly with a student perspective. This means that both quantitative and qualitative methods of collecting and analyzing data has been used to be able to answer the research questions. The overall aim of the thesis is to contribute with knowledge about students’ engagement in school by identifying aspects that influence the engagement. The thesis consists of three different studies. One quantitative study, where 1298 student participated in a survey concerning student engagement with school, which was followed by two qualitative studies, where the descriptive analysis was broadened with interviews, one with students and teachers in two different classes and one with students from eight different schools. Apart from that, students have written reflections on how they experience their learning environments in school. The discussion concerns whether students in year seven are engaged with their school, both according to the psychological and according to the cognitive engagement. The discussion also concerns what aspects of engagement students and their teachers in two highly engaged classes have experienced. In the study students with different socioeconomically and cultural backgrounds take part. The concepts of students’ participation and influence in their schoolwork is also discussed.